The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 17, 2023
Filed:
Jun. 03, 2019
Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Huafeng Wen, Redwood City, CA (US);
Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A method for treating a subject's teeth. A target configuration for the subject's teeth is determined. Receiving features are produced on a dental base in response to the target configuration, the receiving features being configured to receive physical tooth models. The physical tooth models are assembled on the dental base to form a physical arch model. A dental aligner is produced using the physical arch model to move the subject's teeth to the target configuration. A method for making a multi-layer dental aligner includes placing a first layer of a first aligner-making material over one or more physical tooth models, conforming the first layer of the first aligner-making material to the surfaces of the one or more physical tooth models, placing a second layer of a second aligner-making material over the first layer of the first aligner-making material, and conforming the second layer of the second aligner-making material to the surfaces of the first layer of the first aligner-making material over the one or more physical tooth models to produce the multi-layer dental aligner. A method for making a non-uniform dental aligner includes non-uniformly heating the sheet of aligner-making material and holding the sheet of aligner-making material against one or more physical tooth models to produce the non-uniform dental aligner.